Taiwan jails mainland Chinese student on national security charge

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwan district court on Friday sentenced a mainland Chinese student to 14 months imprisonment for breaching national security laws.

The sentencing of Zhou Hongxu follows months of strained relations over the detention of a Taiwanese national in China.

On Monday, a Taiwanese activist, Li Ming-che, confessed in a Chinese court to attempting to subvert the Beijing government, according to videos of his hearing released by Chinese authorities, although his wife refused to recognize the court’s authority.

Li, a community college teacher known for his pro-democracy and rights activism, had gone missing on a trip to mainland China in March.

Last year, China cut off official communication channels with Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen took office to pressure her to concede that the island is a part of China. Her Democratic Progressive Party traditionally favors independence.